God provides in funny ways...

Hi there, pals!

It's so amazing to me how God provides. He tells us that He'll provide & it's super-de-duper fun to see it put into action...and the creative ways He does it! 

I think I've told you before, but...when Adam & I very first got married, we did not tithe. I mean, I would here & there in college, but not faithfully. And when we got married, honestly, we were just being selfish & untrusting. Our excuses consisted much of, "That's sooo much money each month!" or, "Things will be so tight if we actually do that. How can we afford that?" Silly things like that. Seriously, it just makes me want to laugh now at how naive we were. 

Pastor had a sermon on how our money is not actually our money. It's God's money -- we just get to manage it while we're here. And in a very condensed version of this, it's sort of like stealing from Him. He gives you so much & asks for just a bit of that back. Huh, who woulda thought. That's a really good way to put it. We would have nothing...I mean nothing without God giving it to us. After that, we knew things had to change & immediately started tithing, have NEVER looked back & have been faithfully, cheerful givers ever since!

New American Standard Bible 
Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

-2 Corinthians 9:7

via

And...you know what, guys? What happened next was insane & sort of confusing to be honest. Our bank account just kept growing & growing. It was nuts. We had tried saving before & it just seemed to keep slipping from our grasps. But once we trusted in Him & willingly obeyed, we were financially blessed more than we could have thought. It just doesn't make sense on paper. 

We recently have just been able to pay off a very LARGE student loan of mine -- all in one foul swoop. Just got rid of it like that. And you know what? It's because God has been faithful to us. We got rid of that loan, but didn't want to deplete all of our finances (I've had my car since I was 16 & let's just say it's...a little rough, so we wanted to keep enough in there to get a new car, if need be, at least). Still, we have less in our account than we're used to, so we decided to keep building it up so we could do the same thing with Adam's loan -- delete it in one foul swoop! Well, we needed to get a CT scan for hunky husband which was going to cost us around $800...okay, no biggy. Stinks, but we can handle that! Things like that happens. And you know what, guys... God provided. He provided almost $1,100 through a garage sale that I had in my little hometown of only like 800 people. Isn't that nuts? Garage sales like that aren't too common. I'm humbled. 

See what I mean? Isn't it so cool to see God's blessings in action? That garage sale is going to pay for husband's CT & then some! We have to get some eye exams, new glasses, much needed dental appointments, etc & it will help to cover those, too!

Anyways, I so just wanted to share this because I've been so excited to share. And I would encourage you to trust his faithfulness. Even if you're heart is unsure. Make the leap -- you'll sure be glad you did!

Big hugs from over here!

J